Opal City

[lightupthesky]

Nice night for a meteor shower. Unfortunately, they aren't the type that just burn up in atmosphere sooooooo...

POW!

CRASH!

"Whoo Hoo! This is just like 'Asteroids.' Only, you know...can't miss."

Comments

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

Something blazing bright is gaining from the back of the shower, picking up treacherous amounts of speed. It's not a meteor, not a rock at all, but actually looks to be gleaming...

...And as if some doll is attached to it in the blackness...

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"What the - Kyle, honey! Keep up with the smashing!" could be one of those Sinestro thingies trying to sneak by. "I got this one!"

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

As it streaks closer, a man can be seen, two round lenses glowing bright green in the glare of the 'star' he seems to be riding in on.

Nothing can be seen behind the two lenses of the current Starman, but his knuckles are white on the cosmic staff. His face is contorted into a scream. He makes no acknowledgment of anything around him, simply blazing forward towards earth.

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Jack!" He's quickly held aloft by a giant glowing ball. "Hang on!"

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

Jack's acceleration has stopped in the bubble, simply resting in it motionless, stance still the same. His grip is still white on the staff. If there's anything he can manage right now, hanging on is it.

Up close, he's bloody, bruised, and thin. His clothing is tattered from what looks primarily like burns, and the scream has closed up to a quiet mumble. He rolls his head around to look at his savior, not recognizing, through tinted view. "home" is all he says, twice.

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"No shit Sherlock!" Back to Mid-Nite and Terrific NOW!

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

He can't see who he's with to make their identity out, but Jack recognizes the voice enough to feel safe. It's the first calm he's felt in the longest time, longer than he can remember. The thought of just how long it's been makes him feel panicked, and constricted, and want to start screaming again.

He holds it in with thoughts of home. The people he wants to see, the people to really calm his nerves, are all gone. There are others, though, others that are family, too. He'll be out of this swallowing blackness soon. "Where'm I? Did I make it?"

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"You'll live and fight another day." There's flowers by his bed from Dinah already. Thankfully Jack passed out for the really bad stuff, like the burn treatment. "Just, you know, not right now."

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

With vision, the world returns. Consciousness comes around easily when he realizes he wasn't mumbling in his sleep, he wasn't mumbling in space anymore.

The world is very bright. Sunlight is crisp outside and it's a particularly kind day in late spring, from the smell of the flowers at his bedside.

His face lights up at the woman at his bedside. "Oh, you're a more gorgeous sight than normal! I actually frickin' made it!" He sounds genuinely stunned.

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"You have been away too long. I'm always a good show." She tilts her head to the side. "So, I guess this is storytime."

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

He opens his mouth to speak, then stops. He's not sure where to start-- literally. It's a little startling to realize. He fidgets uncomfortably, noting the sore parts of his anatomy, as he thinks this over.

"No," he finally says, shocked. "I'll be damned, no! To be honest, the last I remember is a blur of some JSA meetings, and a business deal in Midway. I talked to Dinah, uh, c'mon, two days before that? August! That's it."

He looks out the window. Has it been a year? "Doesn't look like fall."

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Oooookay, memory fun. I hate that. Last thing you remember?"

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head some, an embarrassed smile starting to creep across his lips. "I'm startin' to feel a little bit like Keith Richards here," he says.

"I remember the conversation with Dinah. Vividly. Things are all discombobulated after that. I did my stuff in Midway, I had a couple slow, boring days, I--"

He rubs the side of his face and then the back of his head. "Obviously I went out in space for something? The only thing I remember between all that and now is coming to Earth, fast. I was terrified. I had to get home. I don't know why, and I don't think I did then, either."

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Yeeeeaaaaah, the report said you were headed out there looking into something weird the rod was picking up and then -" Jenny shrugs. "We were kinda used to you going further and further out there so I didn't get too worried about it." And ugh, she should have.

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

He nods, thinking about this. He's not sure what tried to put the mother of all hurt on him, but it obviously succeeded. At the same time, it managed to scare the daylights out of him. It doesn't sit comfortably with Jack that something made him run, like a coward, like a dog with his tail between his legs. He's made of more solid things than that, but he always knew the hero trade came with heavy loads of crap.

It makes Jack immediately think about his family. "How's dad been?"

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Alive, still plays chess with Shade every week and creeps us out." No...no mention of her daddy. No, this is happy...

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

"Good," he says, nodding. He's not sure what else to say about that. He's glad dad's good, but then again, Jack knows he's going to get a ton of questions, and probably poked at by a few 'somebodies'.

There's also the looming question of how long it's been between now and his last memories. Here goes nothing. "So what date is it exactly?"

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

She winces. "Uh, well, you know me, exact dates are...May 21, 2008."

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

"Okay," he says evenly.

That's... alarming. There's a logical explanation somewhere, of course. Memories don't simply disappear without reason. He's been doing something all this time. Something someone else might find advantageous that he doesn't know?

Jack hates thinking like that.

"Wow."

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Is it time for me to just go get Ted and have him take you out of here or is there somewhere else to go?"

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

"I need a minute," Jack says honestly, but somehow short of breath. He's maneuvering himself to his feet, which he regrets within a few seconds, but the ache will wear and right now standing at the window is doing him more good.

Shit. Staring out into that scenery, where were you? What were you doing? ...who do you need to get back to that doesn't have that much time? "Did I say anything? Anything that might--?"

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Nope."

[starinopal.livejournal.com]

He shakes himself loose of his thoughts. He's going to hang around for a bit. "Square one it is, then."

[thegreenones.livejournal.com]

"Square One, with breakfast!" she notes.